


Evanescent

by meragu



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Pre-Series, ambiguous relationship [either platonic or romantic], lamenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-22 00:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8266768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meragu/pseuds/meragu
Summary: Time was a construct, nothing more than a measurement of distance between moments. And yet, every heartbeat that passed through Durbe was heavier with the ongoing absence of his best friend.





	

**Author's Note:**

> _Do you remember when you said to me "my friend, hope is a prison?"_
> 
> I finally finished zexal II two years late and I'm still sad. For someone very special to me.

He wonders really just how long it had been since he’d last laid eyes upon his friend.  
  
Minutes, hours, days, years; all time, constructs made by humans to measure the static that has never come to pass in the Barian World. But it passes all the same, each heartbeat that keeps Durbe alive thumps heavier without word from his dearest friend, as if attempting to physically heal the gaping wound left from the sudden disappearance of Nasch and Merag all those heartbeats ago.  
  
In reality it’s less than eighteen human months since he last spoke with Nasch, though it was brief and never what he wishes he could have said to him – had he known really it was the last time they would connect before disappearing from each other’s lives, he would have said a lot more than the fleeting, evanescent words that had left him at that time. Guilt knots at his gut, a regretful wish that he could have said _anything_ that could have prevented what happened, though to this day it remains a hollow mystery to him as to what actually transpired.  
  
All he knows is little, despite the desperate attempt at solving the mystery before him; Merag abandoned a meeting, an event so out of character that Durbe had sought Nasch’s advice, only to find him gone as well, all traces of their energy zapped from the world at a moment’s notice. Hindsight had clawed at him, gentle purrs of _what did you expect, really? The two were never apart for long_ that sink into his ears, decaying mercilessly at every hope he clings to, down to trembling fingers that were sure they’d felt Nasch’s presence at any moment. The realization had sent shockwaves through his heart, much as they did now, no less loss or confused than that initial moment so long ago.  
  
Hardened feet meet softened sand of countless years of repetitive waves, the Ocean of Ill Will desperate in its urge to destroy, berating the coast over and over with defiant waves that refused to let up even when the rocks beneath had had enough and dissolved within its anger. He feels the same wash over him, fury and melancholy circling together, chewing at Durbe’s soul from the inside out until he too feels like the battered and wrecked sand that rush over numb feet.  
  
It almost reminds him of Nasch himself, how the man never could live an emotion halfway; it was never anger with him, but fury, depression over sadness, a hidden joy over simple happiness – only it was all gone now, washed away with her under waves that have snatched away everything he ever held dear. He’d taken to arriving here when it was at its worst, chaos energy vibrating within him until his feet collapse on the ever softening sand – he’d often found Nasch here, deep in thought, royal blue eyes focused on nothing but the washing waves before him. And he’s sure it’s why he finds himself drawn to the place more often than not, for a sudden, instinctive, almost desperate flush of remembrance brings him here, for sure that this time he will be there, much like he always was when something was bothering him.  
  
Durbe tries to rationalize it all, to tell himself that Nasch isn’t actually gone, not really, but disappeared – interdimensional travel was existent, but excruciating, and with no chance of collecting Numbers with their own forms in any other world it was completely pointless to him to even attempt without a solution. And maybe Nasch had found something, and taken Merag with him, for he knew the two could not bear to be apart for long. It tides him over for the time being, much in the way it always does, for Nasch knew of their goal and had a comprehension far beyond the rest of them. And Merag, her clairvoyance was an invaluable addition that he can understand Nasch’s desire to bring her along, even disregarding the bond the two of them shared.  
  
So he remains behind, a knowledge that even if it had been countless heartbeats since he’d last seen his most treasured friends, it was his duty to keep the Barian World running in their absence. And he’d done his best despite shortfalls here and there – a Déjà vu swallows him, an instinct that he had once led an army much like this before – and though he will never possess the qualities of Nasch, will never have respect commanded of him from eye contact alone or an instinctive knowledge to always say the right thing at the right time, he manages well enough. Nasch’s people pray for his return, though he explains that he’s off fighting their war to protect the Barian World from its assured destruction, that the two will be back soon only to be interrupted by an explosion of light dancing across the sky, a furious and indiscriminate instruction for Durbe that he should at least give them the truth, even if he could not accept it himself.  
  
Numb feet finally gain feeling as a wave crashes around him, sizzling through his entire core as the heat of the water finally shudders him awake. It’s a hidden jolt of her, how she had always remained ice cold even in the exhausting heat of the Barian World; how everything had always felt a little lighter when her energy was nearby, like the refreshing breeze on a warm summer’s day. And Nasch was warmth where she was cold, complementing each other in such a fashion that their double disappearance did not leave him cold, as he originally suspected, but empty, unable to find sustenance in the extreme heats bar the few times he braved the agony of the ocean before him.  
  
For they weren’t dead, he knew nothing more; they could say it every day but he would not accept it without the bodies before his eyes. And a disappearance meant no bodies, his hypothesis so strong within his eyes he sees no possible bias that could deny it from existence without it.  
  
So he bides his time until their return, researching, planning, reciting what Nasch had told him in countless nights locked away in planning with the other five; that the Numeron Code was on Earth, where Durbe was sure Nasch and Merag were now, and that it was absolutely critical to attain the Code in their hands. Knowledge of the Code was embedded deep into his brain, but it was still not enough; without Nasch it meant nothing, its use would be wasted if it were not that the seven together could see the fruit of their hard work bloom before them.  
  
It’s clear that the Astral World are fighting to destroy them, just like they tried to all those years ago – they couldn’t just be left alone, left to revel in their chaos, for Astral World despised them and their leftovers were to be abolished at all costs – but they hadn’t killed them off yet, they wouldn’t, not without the Numeron Code.  
  
Durbe’s eyes close, a gentle expansion and contraction of his chest echoing through as he attempts to regulate his heartbeat to a reasonable level. The knowledge keeps him safe for now, trust in his dearest friends’ eventual return enough for him for this one moment.  
  
And if his worst fears erupt before his eyes and Nasch and Merag indeed are lost to this world, passed on to somewhere greater – or worse, for the concept of death in the Barian World was nonexistent and undocumented – then there would not be much he could do, only to grieve as he’s certain he has been through the defiance. And in the meantime, fight for Barian World, fight for the world Nasch had hoped for, and retain his own hope that if he could never lay eyes upon his dearest friends in this life again, that one day, one heartbeat, he would see them again in the next one.


End file.
